I'm Master Corporal Mitchel McNee from Toronto, Ontario -
I'm a Biomedical Electronics Technologist
posted to Central Medical Equipment Depot in Garrison Petawawa.
Biomedical Electronics Technologists, or B.E. Techs,
install, maintain and repair the medical, dental and diagnostic equipment
in base clinics and field hospitals, and aboard Navy ships.
What we do ensures that medical care can be delivered to our soldiers
and men and women in uniform when it's required most.
You'll work on everything from SPO2 finger probes to large X-ray machines
to oxygen generators that you require a forklift to actually lift, move and put in place.
You're repairing technology that actually helps people - people need this to survive.
Whether or not you do a good job repairing a device could make the difference
between life or death for someone who needs to use that device for life-sustaining treatment.
At home in Canada, B.E. Techs typically work a normal Monday to Friday work week.
As key members of the Health Services team,
they ensure the accurate performance of essential medical devices.
It's not just the work I do but the people I work with are probably some of the best
I've ever had a chance to work with and just the people you meet in the military
and the work environment, I find, is pretty great.
B.E. Techs are frequently on the road making regular maintenance visits
to all Canadian Armed Forces medical establishments across Canada and overseas.
So for example, if you're deployed overseas in a Role 2 hospital,
you'll be responsible to know every single piece of kit inside and out.
So if at a mission-critical time it breaks,
you have to be the one to be able to fix it immediately if possible.
One of the big differences, too, with our trade is, if you were working for,
say, ACME Biomedical, you might be only working on ventilators or anesthesia machines,
where in our trade, you have to know literally every single piece of kit in the military.
You don't have the opportunity to be pigeon-holed into one set or type of equipment,
you have to be able to know everything and think on your feet, which is,
I think, the major difference is just the variety we get, versus the civilian side.
One of the coolest things about being a Biomedical Electronics Tech
for the military versus civilian side is,
I would've never gotten to fire a rocket launcher working for Toronto General Hospital -
and I have in the military.
I got to go to Iraq for 40 days to the base in Erbil as we were closing out our Role 2 hospital
and I had an absolute blast - it was a great time.
I've also had the opportunity to go to Alert, Nunavut, which is the very tippy-top of Canada.
And I had the opportunity to stand on the most northern shore of the country
and be the most northern person in the country for at least 5 minutes, which was pretty cool.
On completion of their military training, Biomedical Electronics Technologists
get posted to a Canadian Armed Forces base for a full year of on-the-job training
under the supervision of a senior Biomedical Electronics Technologist.
In your first year as a Biomedical Electronics Tech,
you'll be expected to complete your one-year on-the-job training package.
This training package has a checklist of different types of pieces of equipment
and procedures that you have to complete in order to be trusted to fix biomedical technology
for the Canadian Armed Forces.
B.E. Techs are considered deployable as soon as they finish their year of on-the-job training,
so they can expect to travel wherever there's equipment that needs maintenance or repair.
I would say I'm very proud of the work I do, and I quite like the work I do.
I think I'm extremely fortunate to have chosen this career when I did
and having joined the military straight after high school and getting college paid for,
especially, was extremely fortunate.
I've had opportunities that I can certainly say I would have never gotten in civilian life
if I were working at a major hospital or a major medical equipment company.
I've had the opportunity to run navigation exercises
for medical specialists at 1 Canadian Field Hospital,
and had the opportunity to practise my supervisory and public-speaking skills
where I might never get a chance to do so if I were working on the civilian side.